THE NEW GRS:
A Proposal for Restructuring the GRS

1 Executive Summary

The Office of the Chief Records Officer created the GRS Team in Records Management Services to focus on updating and revising the General Records Schedules. The GRS Team has taken this opportunity to assess the GRS, what its current problems are, and how it might better serve Federal agencies. This assessment began by surveying Federal records management staff as well as staff in the Office of the Chief Records Officer. The survey identified a number of problems and deficiencies in the current GRS, as well as gathered a number of suggestions for making it better.

Based on our findings, the team proposes a complete update and overhaul of the existing General Records Schedules. The new structure seeks to align the General Records Schedules along common functions based in part on the Federal Enterprise Architecture. The team plans to use business process analysis to identify both temporary and permanent records series within each of these functions. This analysis will then be used to create more comprehensive General Records Schedules using flexible, big bucket scheduling techniques as much as possible.

2 The GRS Team

The GRS Team provides leadership and collaborates with agencies and NARA staff to develop and implement General Records Schedules that are relevant, easy to use, and meet the needs of the Federal records management community. Our mission is to maintain the General Records Schedules by performing necessary updates and revisions and developing new schedules to be responsive to the evolving needs of Federal agencies. We also serve as subject matter experts and promote better understanding about the GRS to enable consistent implementation by agencies and fellow NARA staff.

3 Why we are restructuring the GRS

The primary directive of the GRS Team is to update and revise the General Records Schedules, many of which are severely outdated and no longer meet the current needs of Federal Agencies. The team decided to conduct a study to look into new ways of structuring the GRS. We knew that the existing General Records Schedules did not meet current agencies needs, were out of date, did not reflect all records created by current administrative processes, and had retentions that were not applicable to electronic records. The purpose of the study was to develop a plan for revising the General Records Schedules so that they are more flexible, usable, and easy to understand and implement.

The intent of the project was to determine how to proceed with updating the General Records Schedules. Specifically, we sought to determine whether or not the General Records Schedules can and should be restructured, and if so how. We also proposed that the project would result in an overall plan for revising the General Records Schedules, including a schedule identifying when certain chapters will be updated.

The first step in the project was to gather information about agency and staff perceptions of the problems with the existing GRS. In May 2012 we conducted a survey of staff and agencies. We received 64 complete responses from agency records management staff and 11 complete responses from staff in the Office of the Chief Records Officer.

The survey identified the following issues with the current GRS:

Needs to be written in plain English

Formatting is inconsistent

Too granular

Series descriptions are too vague

Duplication of record series in multiple schedules

May not reflect how records are currently maintained

Includes records series that no longer exist

Need for updates to reflect:

Media neutrality

Electronic formats/automation; technology change

Current business practices/processes

Current terminology

We also received a number of suggestions for improving the GRS:

Use a functional/”big bucket” approach

Add permanent authorities

Remove disposition instructions that only reference other authorities; provide hyperlinks if necessary

Remove or separate filing instructions

Provide more guidance and training for implementation

Use cutoff instructions

Standardize retention periods

Include legal citations relating to records retentions

Describe the level of the office which the records would be found

Compile the General Records Schedules into a single schedule

Provide search capability

Create a subject index and/or crosswalk for all schedules

4 Our goals for the new GRS

Based on the responses from the GRS Survey, the team has set the following goals for the new GRS:

Functional arrangement

Aggregate records into buckets where useful/possible

True media neutrality; no more series based on format

Comprehensive coverage of common Federal records = cover more records

Addition of permanent series

Clear series descriptions

More specific examples and cross-walks

Standardized retentions

Consistency

Additionally, we will be proposing a project for FY13 to look into ways to provide better search capability for the online GRS.

5 How we developed our proposal

To meet the goals of a more functionally aligned and big bucket GRS, the team looked at the Federal Enterprise Architecture (FEA) as a starting point for identifying common functions/sub-functions. A previous NARA team had already mapped the existing GRS to the FEA, which aided in this process. While the FEA helped in identifying common lines of business across the Federal government, we did make some additions and alterations to groupings to ensure that known records would be covered as well as for simplification.

Once we had identified and described the functions and sub-functions to include in the restructured GRS, we mapped current GRS items to the new sub-functions.

6 Our proposal: What we plan to do and what we can’t do

The next step, once the restructuring proposal is finalized, is to identify specific business processes under each sub-function. The team will then conduct a business process analysis of these processes to define the processes and where records are created or captured as part of the process. This information will then help us to identify record buckets and will allow us to draft schedules that are more flexible and complete. Finally, we will create cross-walks that include specific examples of record types in each bucket to serve as a reference for agencies in implementing the new GRS schedules.

There are some limitations on how much we will be able to bucket GRS series. Some records are controlled by regulations or laws that will not allow us or may make it difficult to combine records into buckets. This fiscal year we have been working on identifying those series that cannot be bucketed and will be issuing guidance for agencies about bucketing GRS items in their own schedules.

7 The proposed structure of the new GRS

The team identified 12 major functions and 47 sub-function to be covered by the new GRS. These functions include some new areas not currently covered by the GRS as well as areas with known permanent records.

GRS 3 (now under various parts of 1. Administrative Management and 2.6 Grants)

GRS 27 (dispersed over various functions)

GRS 9 (now mostly 2.5 Travel)

GRS 14 (now 4.5 Records & Information Management)

We also received comments that GRS 1 (now 3. Human Resource Management) is outdated per current regulations and that GRS 3-5 & 7-8 (now 2. Budget & Finance and 1.2 Goods & Services Acquisition) do not meet audit requirements.

Based on these priorities and comments we developed a 5-year plan for when each of the new GRS functions would be reviewed. Our justifications for the ordering of the plan are below the table.

5-year Plan

FY 13

2. Budget & Finance (6 sub-functions)

4. Information & Technology Management (6 sub-functions)

FY 14

3. Human Resources Management (10 sub-functions)

11. Temporary Boards, Commissions, Councils & Committees (1 function)

FY 15

1. Administrative Management (10 sub-functions)

5. Executive Leadership (1 function)

FY 16

6. Planning & Policy (4 sub-functions)

9. Public Affairs (2 sub-functions)

10. Knowledge Creation & Management (3 sub-functions)

FY 17

7. General Counsel (1 function)

8. Legislative & Congressional Relations (3 sub-functions)

12. Regulatory Compliance & Enforcement (3 sub-functions)

Justifications for the 5-year plan:

FY13: We chose Budget & Finance because it covers parts of GRS 3-5, & 7-8 which do not meet current audit requirements. It also covers GRS 9 which was in the top 10 priorities from the survey. We selected IT Management because it includes GRS 14, 16, 20 and 24, which are all in top 10 priorities.

FY14: We selected Human Resource Management because GRS 1 was in top 3 for revision. We chose Temp Boards, etc. because it is part of the current GRS that needs to be updated.

FY15: Administrative Management and Executive Leadership are together because these are the two sections where email is likely to be scheduled. The new email guidance is due December of 2013 and we wanted to be sure that the guidance was issued before be began looking at including email in the GRS. Also, Administrative Management was prioritized second to Human Resources Management in the survey.

FY16 and FY17: The order of these sections was largely based on significance of the records and an attempt to keep the work fairly balanced.

Appendix A: Descriptive Outline of the New GRS

1. Administrative Management
Administrative Management includes routine tasks common to all offices and necessary for day-to-day office operation. These tasks do not relate to an agency's program or mission, and are often referred to as housekeeping duties.

1.1. General AdministrationGeneral administration includes day-to-day housekeeping activities such as administrative correspondence and subject files and the calendars of lower-level staff.

1.2. Goods and Services AcquisitionGoods and Services Acquisition involves the procurement of physical goods, products, and capital assets to be used by the federal government and the oversight and/or management of contractors and service providers from the private sector.

1.4. Logistics Management (New)
Logistics Management involves the planning and tracking of personnel and their resources in relation to their availability and location.

1.5. Facilities, Fleet, and Equipment
Facilities, Fleet, and Equipment involves the maintenance, administration, and operation of office buildings, fleets, machinery, and other capital assets that are possessions of the federal government.

Facilities management files (presumably an expansion of what already exists?)

1.6. Communication
Communication involves functions related to administration of services used to send and receive information in the course of conducting business such as managing use of messenger services, telecommunications, and postal/mail services. Note: This category does not include the actual communications themselves.

1.9. Administrative Controls and OversightAdministrative Controls and Oversight relates to ensuring that internal operations and programs comply with applicable laws and regulations and prevent waste, fraud, and abuse, as well as the agency’s procedures and plans. Functions include program evaluation (analysis of internal and external program effectiveness and the determination of corrective actions as appropriate), program monitoring (data gathering activities required to determine the effectiveness of internal and external programs and the extent to which they comply with related laws, regulations, and policies), and corrective action (the enforcement of activities to remedy internal or external programs that have been found noncompliant with a given law, regulation, or policy). NOTE: This does not include agency activities related to external control and oversight. Those activities are generally specific to an agency’s mission and should be scheduled by the agency.

1.10. Help Desk Services (New)
Help Desk Services involves the management of a service center to respond to government and contract employees' technical and administrative questions. (Not including IT Help Desk Services, which is found under Information Technology Management).

2.4. Accounting
Accounting is the process of monitoring financial assets and liabilities, recording and reporting both income from all sources and expenses to all payees to enable audit. Federal accounting standards and requirements are set by the Department of the Treasury, the Federal Accounting Standards Advisory Board, the General Accountability Office, and the Office of Management and Budget. Accounting also includes accumulating and analyzing cost information to assist in establishing an agency’s strategic goals and safeguarding resources to meet objectives.

2.6. Grants
Grants involves the disbursement of funds to a nonfederal entity to help fund projects or activities. This includes the processes associated with grant administration, including the publication of funds availability notices, development of the grant application guidance, determination of grantee eligibility, coordination of the peer review/evaluation process for competitive grants, the transfer of funds, and the monitoring/oversight as appropriate. Grants management may also include the allocation of money to states or their subdivisions as formula grants or earmarked grants or the funding, of project/competitive grants such as fellowships, scholarships, research grants, training grants, traineeships, experimental and demonstration grants, evaluation grants, planning grants, technical assistance grants, survey grants, and construction grants.

3.2. Staff Acquisition
Staff Acquisition establishes procedures for recruiting and selecting high-quality, productive employees with the right skills and competencies, in accordance with merit system principles. This sub-function includes: developing a staffing strategy and plan; establishing an applicant evaluation approach; announcing the vacancy, sourcing and evaluating candidates against the competency requirements for the position; initiating pre-employment activities; and hiring employees. This function also includes the design, development, and implementation of organizational and position structures.

Employment interview records (specifically including interview records for applicants that are not hired)

3.3. General Employee Management
General Employee Management involves functions related to day-to-day management of employees as well as management of employees throughout the course of their career after hiring and prior to separation.

3.5. Employee Relations
Employee Relations involves two primary functions. First, it involves the design, development, and implementation of programs that strive to maintain an effective employer-employee relationship that balances the agency’s needs against its employees’ rights. This sub-function includes: addressing employee misconduct; addressing employee performance problems; managing administrative grievances; providing employee accommodation; administering employees assistance programs; participating in administrative third party proceedings; and determining candidate and applicant suitability. Secondly, it includes activities related to employee performance management, which involve design, development and implementation of a comprehensive performance management strategy that enables managers to make distinctions in performance and links individual performance to agency goal and mission accomplishment. This sub-function also includes managing employee performance at the individual level and evaluating the overall effectiveness of the agency’s employee development approach.

3.7. Employee Training
Employee Training designs, develops, and implements a comprehensive employee development approach to ensure that agency employees have the right competencies and skills for current and future work assignments. This sub-function includes conducting employee training needs assessments; designing employee training programs; administering and delivering employee training programs; and evaluating the overall effectiveness of the agency’s employee training approach.

3.10. Labor Relations
Labor Relations manages the relationship between the agency and its unions and bargaining units. This includes negotiating and administering labor contracts and collective bargaining agreements; managing negotiated grievances; and participating in negotiated third party proceedings.

4. Information and Technology Management
Information and Technology Management involves the coordination of information and technology resources and systems required to support or provide a service.

4.1. System Development (New)
System Development supports all activities associated with the in-house design and development of software applications and involves the processes that facilitate a smooth evolution, composition, and workforce transition of the design and implementation of changes to agency resources such as assets, methodologies, systems, or procedures.

4.2. IT Infrastructure & System Maintenance
IT Infrastructure and System Maintenance involves the planning, design, and maintenance of an agency’s IT Infrastructure and any in-house designed software applications.

4.3. Information Systems Security
Information Systems Security involves all functions pertaining to the protection of federal information and information systems from unauthorized access, use, disclosure, disruptions, modification, or destruction, as well as the creation and implementation of security policies, procedures and controls.

4.4. IT Help Desk Services
IT Help Desk Services involves the management of a service center to respond to internal questions and issues about IT infrastructure and system usage.

Existing GRS Items:GRS 24, 10a & 10b: IT Customer Service Files

4.5. Records & Information Management
Records and Information Management involves operations relating to the management of the official documents and records for an agency and the coordination of information collection, storage, and dissemination, and destruction. It also includes managing the policies, guidelines, and standards regarding information management.

5. Executive Leadership (New)
Executive Leadership includes certain common records created or maintained by high-level officials and their offices.

Additional Records/Functions to Consider Adding:

Speeches

Calendars

Correspondence (including e-mail)

6. Planning & Policy
Planning and policy involves the planning related activities such as determining strategic direction, identifying and establishing programs and processes, and allocating resources (capital and labor) among those programs and processes and activities associated with developing regulations, policies, and guidance.

6.2. Emergency Planning
Emergency Planning/Continuity of Operations involves activities related to the processes of planning, responding to, and mitigating damaging events. It also involves activities associated with the identification of critical systems and processes, and the planning and preparation required to ensure that these systems and processes will be available in the event of a catastrophic event (known as Continuity of Operations planning, of COOP).

6.3. Policy and Guidance Development (New)
Policy and Guidance Development involves activities associated with developing regulations, policies, and guidance to implement laws.

Additional Records/Functions to Consider Adding:

Public comments and tracking

6.4. Regulatory Creation & Publication (New)
Regulatory creation and publication involves the activities of researching, drafting proposed and final regulations, and the publication of a proposed or final rule in the Federal Register and Code of Federal Regulations.

7. General Counsel (New)
General Counsel includes sub-functions (to be determined) related to operations in agency General Counsel offices.

Additional Records/Functions to Consider Adding:

Litigation activities

8. Legislative and Congressional Relations
Legislative Relations involves activities aimed at the development, tracking, and amendment of public laws through the legislative branch of the federal government.

8.1. Congressional Liaison Operations (New)
Congressional Liaison Operations involves all activities associated with supporting the formal relationship between a federal agency and the U.S. Congress.

8.2. Legislation Development
Legislation development involves drafting proposed legislation that creates or amends laws subject to Congressional action, including tracking and monitoring legislation from introduction to enactment.

9. Public Affairs
Public Affairs involves the exchange of information and communication between the federal government, citizens and stakeholders in direct support of citizen services, public policy, and/or national interest.

9.1. Official Information Dissemination
Official Information Dissemination includes all efforts to provide official government information to external stakeholders through the use of various types of media, such as video, paper, web, etc.

9.2. Public Relations/Customer Service
Public Relations/Customer Service involves the efforts to promote an organization’s image through the effective handling of citizen concerns, support of activities associated with providing an agency’s external customers with information regarding the agency’s service offerings and managing the interactions and relationships with those customers, and marketing of government services products, and programs to the general public in an attempt to promote awareness and increase the number of customers/beneficiaries of those services and programs.

10. Knowledge Creation & Management
Knowledge Creation and Management involves the programs and activities in which the federal government creates or develops a body or set of knowledge, the manipulation and analysis of which can provide inherent benefits for both the federal and private sector.

10.1 Research and Development (New)
Research and Development involves the gathering and analysis of data, dissemination of results, and development of new products, methodologies, and ideas.

10.2 General Purpose Data and Statistics (New)
General Purpose Data and Statistics includes activities performed in providing empirical, numerical, and related data and information pertaining to the current state of the nation in areas such as the economy, labor, weather, international trade, etc.

10.3 Knowledge Dissemination
Knowledge Dissemination addresses instances where the primary method used in delivering a service is through the publishing or broadcasting of information. This sub-function may also include the gathering of information for possible publication or broadcast, such as taking photos of agency events.

12. Regulatory Compliance & Enforcement (New)
Regulatory Compliance and Enforcement involves the direct monitoring and oversight of a specific individual, group, industry, or community participating in a regulated activity via market mechanisms, command and control features, or other means to control or govern conduct or behavior.

12.2 Standard Setting/Reporting Guideline Development (New)
Standard Setting / Reporting Guideline Development involves the establishment of allowable limits associated with a regulated activity and the development of reporting requirements necessary to monitor and control compliance with allowable limits. This includes the development of requirements for product sampling and testing, emissions monitoring and control, incident reporting, financial filings, etc.

12.3 Permits and Licensing
Permits and Licensing involves activities associated with granting, revoking, and the overall management of the documented authority necessary to perform a regulated task or function.